Two Cups Part One: The Greatest Exchange

Note: This series is adapted from speaking notes, which only partially excuses the sometimes awkward prose.

In Mark 14:32-46 we read of the spiritual agony of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, of the failure of that inner circle of Apostles to fight off the temptation of sleep, and of the chilling betrayal of one of the very Twelve against his Master. Thus began the great ordeal- the events that culminated in Jesus Christ hanging on a wooden cross until his life had left his body, being sealed in a tomb, and then walking out alive three days later.

This is a passage of heartbreaking neglect on the part of the three apostles, and even much more heartbreaking betrayal on the part of Judas. But it is not that neglect and it is not that betrayal that I want to look at now. Rather, it is something from the Lord's prayer in Gethsemane.  And he said

Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will. (Mark 14:36)

Remove this cup from me.  I would like to use that phrase from the lips of our Lord Christ to consider something of the shocking and scandalous grace offered to sinners in the pages of the Bible.


This passage speaks of a cup, and this will be our focus. And yet we will not be looking at this cup only. Rather, will be looking at two cups. This is because there are two cups spoken of in the Scriptures, both of which we must be acquainted with if we are to understand the meaning of the cross of Christ.

So we will look at two cups.

Neither of these cups can be held in your hand, but both are very real.

One of them is unspeakably glorious; the other is unspeakably terrible.

One cup is yours by birthright and by merit; the other you have no right within yourself to drink.

We will begin by looking at these two cups in turn, and then we will bring this information to our text from Mark.

Cup Number One

First, there is cup number one, which may be called the cup of God's blessing. This cup is kept constantly full; indeed it overflows as God continually pours into it the blessings of his love. We read about this cup in the 23rd Psalm-

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD

forever.

The psalmist says that this cup overflows. So abundant are the blessings of God that they flood any vessel that might contain them. The benefits of the one who gets to drink from this cup are goodness, mercy, and a permanent dwelling place with God. Though the days of your life may be short or long; though the days of your life may be full of peace or strife; though men may count you in this life to be important or not, one thing at least is always true of those who have this over flowing cup of God's blessing. No matter what the princes of this world may think or do, goodness and mercy are following you all your days, the goodness and mercy of the God who loves and cares for you, and with whom you will dwell forever. It is in the very house of the LORD that the drinkers of this cup will spend eternity.

Truly, this cup runs over. Yet who may drink it? What man could possibly deserve such a cup? Who is worthy to dwell in the house of the Lord forever? Who else indeed, but Jesus? Who could be more worthy of the cup of God's blessing than Him, the one who never once sinned, never stepped out of perfect fellowship and communion with His heavenly father? It stands to reason, that if Christ was praying about a cup he was about to drink in that garden on that cruel night, we would assume that it was cup number one, the cup of God's blessing.

Yet our assumption would be wrong. Christ prayed, as we read in the account of the same evening in the gospel of Matthew: My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. The reason that Christ prayed that prayer, is that it was not the cup of God's blessing that he was about to drink, it was the other cup. It was cup number two.

Cup Number Two

We can call this cup the cup of God's wrath. It is a horrible cup to consider, but consider it we must. We drew out our understanding of the first cup from a Psalm 23, a very familiar and very popular Psalm. Let's draw out our understanding of this second cup from another Psalm, this one perhaps less familiar (and certainly less popular at weddings and funerals). Let’s look now at part of Psalm 75-

For not from the east or from the west

and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,

but it is God who executes judgment,

putting down one and lifting up another.

For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup

with foaming wine, well mixed,

and he pours out from it,

and all the wicked of the earth

shall drain it down to the dregs.

The Psalm testifies that judgment does not come from the east, not from the west. Judgment comes from God alone. It is God who puts one down; it is God who exalts another. And in his hand there is a cup.
This is the second cup, the terrible cup. This is the cup of God's wrath. And all the wicked of the Earth shall drain it down to the dregs.

Who deserves this cup? Who are the wicked? While it is true that history presents an easily assembled rouges gallery of wicked men, we err if we look to them and then cease our searching. The painful and impolite truth is that the wicked are closer to home than we should like to admit. Who are the wicked? I am. You are. We all as one great mass, the entire human race, have spurned this great and Holy God, we have rebelled against Him, we have loved other things more than Him, we have broken his law, we have failed to live up to his righteousness. We have all sinned. We have all fallen short of the glory of God. The cup of God's wrath is His Holy fury, His righteous indignation that though he created us for ongoing love and communion with himself, we turned away from Him and rebelled. It is the reaction of a perfectly Holy God being scorned and abandoned by his own image-bearing children. And as hard as it may be for us to admit, it is justice. Even if our sins, even if our failures seem slight to us, the degree of the penalty is determined not just by the depth of the offense, but by the greatness of the one sinned against; and there is none greater, none holier, none more righteous than God.

The Greatest Exchange

So then, there are two cups: the cup of God's blessing and the cup of God's wrath.

The cup of God's blessing is by all rights Christ's cup. Please understand this point. Christ was not preparing in the garden of Gethsemane to drink the cup of God's wrath because he somehow deserved it. He absolutely did not deserve it. No, the cup of God's blessing is by all rights Christ's cup. No one could deserve it more. He spent his entire life expanding and adding to its dimensions, so worthy is he of all blessings. That is Christ's cup, and His alone.

The cup of God's wrath is by all rights yours. You were born into it, by virtue of your humanity, by virtue of your place in Adam. And we have all lived up to it. We have lived lives, we have committed sins, we have failed to do what we ought, and we have shoveled and shoveled up more reasons for us to deserve to drink that cup of God's wrath to the bitter dregs. That is our cup.

But then, with our roles seemingly so clearly defined and the stage seemingly so clearly set; something amazing happened. It is a truth which flows simply from the lips or pen, but is of such a glory that cries of wonder in response to it will reverberate through the very halls of heaven for eternity.

Jesus drank your cup so that you wouldn't have to.

In fact, it’s better than that.

Jesus drank your cup so that you could drink His.

And that simple exchange is the very heart of the gospel.

Behold the shocking and scandalous grace of God: Your cup is full to the brim with the wrath of God against your sins. It's a bitter cup of unfathomable sorrow. Christ's cup, the cup of God's blessing, is full of goodness and mercy and is gloriously sweet. The wonder of the gospel is that Jesus Christ drank your cup down to the bitter dregs so that you could taste the sweetness of His.

Jesus Christ came from heaven and took on the flesh of man. Jesus Christ walked this very earth and breathed this very air. Jesus Christ was tempted and assaulted but Jesus Christ never committed a single sin. He was ever the faithful servant. Jesus Christ deserved nothing but the cup of God's blessing. Yet Jesus Christ was arrested, beaten, humiliated and executed as though he were an especially depraved criminal. He was made a public spectacle in his death. He was stricken, smitten, and afflicted. Jesus Christ, though he had earned the cup of blessing, drank the cup of God's wrath. Human eyes could discern well the brutal torments leveled on the Son of God by men, but they are not fit to see the deeper spiritual realties which unfolded as Christ endured the cup of the wrath of His Father. As Christ hung on the cross, God the Father poured out all of that Holy fury, all of that righteous penalty that our sins had accrued. He did not sample the cup of wrath, he did not merely sip from it; he drank it down to those bitter dregs.

 He drained it.

 He drank it so that sinners like us wouldn't have to.

 He drank it so that we could drink his.